It is another quarantine day yet again. Seems nothing has changed but really it has and I’m not sure for the better. From my kitchen window I see overnight storms left a large branch broken and tossed it across my backyard. I am thankful it fell away from the house. I can tell it’s too heavy to lift, maybe my children will help me move it to the fence. Afterall it should be safe and okay to wander in your backyard. Anyway, I need to get reacquainted with the grass and that one lonely silver oak tree. Truthfully, I have missed it but not the squirrels and cardinals who seem to enjoy the absence of humans. They look free as I watch them from my window. My yard has a personality of its own. It is not well manicured but not yet a forest preserve. Fine enough to feel safe and liberated. I see a few fall leaves have survived the winter season. How can something so fragile as a leaf make it through rain, sleet and snow? I want to be that resilient when quarantine is over. I want to declare to the world I am still here. Been through a lot but still breathing. Last night I didn’t feel as brave, the whistling, lightning flashes and trees aggressively swaying. I must have hopped out of bed at least three times. Looking out of the window as if to hear a voice. I wasn’t expecting anything in particular but maybe I was, perhaps echoes of the winds proclaiming “Yes it’s me the storm, or “Give me a couple of hours “or “Nothing to see go look a back to bed.” But I heard none of that and was consoled only by the soothing scent of the vanilla bean candle flickering on my dresser. Off to bed I went but, in that moment I remembered the night before I was awakened by a parade of flashing lights from my window. When I approached my bedroom window it looked like squad cars, no sound and a hertz. It was 11pm. As I stood there looking out, I asked myself why are they riding down my street? Did someone die? In my neighborhood? On my block? Was it due to complications from the Corona
virus? Do I know them? I decided there was nothing I could do. I stood there, in silence and
parted my lips with words of prayer.